1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally concerns a pressurized cyclist water spraying apparatus. The invention more particularly concerns a pressurized cyclist water spraying apparatus which attaches to a bicycle or exercise machine for controllably providing a cool spray of water over the rider.
2. Discussion of the Background
It is often desirable and/or necessary during strenuous activities such as cycling to assist the body's cooling by applying water to the surface of the skin. This is particularly true in hot dry environments and where the strenuous activity is sustained for a significant period of time.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,635 to Porter and U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,339 to Cushing, for example, disclose a bicycle mounted portable container having a pump which the rider manually operates to receive a spray of water. However, such manually operated devices pose a potential safety hazard in that the user's hand and attention are occupied during operation of the bicycle.
To solve this problem, automatic pump devices are also known such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,404 to Zelenak where an electric pump is used for supplying fluids from a reservoir to the user. However, this device requires batteries which are generally heavy, bulky items which are undesirable for cycling apparatus. Moreover, batteries may run out at inconvenient times during a cycling ride and require frequent replacement which is expensive.
Yet another type of device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,813 to Coleman and U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,446 to Guyer, Jr., et al. which disclose bicycle mounted water toys that include a fluid pump driven by a rotating wheel of the bicycle to remove water from a reservoir and convey the water to the water toy. However, the fluid pump of these devices provides a stream of fluid on demand which generally requires a large and heavy pump structure which, again, is undesirable for cycling apparatus.
Thus, there is a need for a fluid dispensing system for automatically dispensing a controlled stream of fluid to the user of a bicycle or exercise equipment, and which utilizes a light and simple pump structure that operates without batteries and requires relatively little power.